


Dragon Training

by nothingeverlost



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-08
Updated: 2013-08-08
Packaged: 2017-12-22 19:29:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/917175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothingeverlost/pseuds/nothingeverlost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Will you slay the dragon then, princess?”  Even in this world, saviors are needed.  After all, there’s always monsters like him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dragon Training

**Author's Note:**

> What if the curse had never been cast, and Rumpelstiltskin had never left his cell? Rum and Emma friendship.

“I’m not afraid of you.” She’s seven, the first time she finds him, her chin tilted up as she stays a careful distance from the bars of his cell. The green dress she’s wearing is streaked with dirt and some sort of vegetation. A stupid man might not have known her for who she is, but he did.

“Brave little princess, come to throw stones at the monster, have we?” His giggle is a little softer than usual; she’s not a guard and doesn’t carry a tray of worms. He’s too curious to try and chase her off. It’s been years since he’s had company.

“I threw rocks at George when he kicked a puppy. Do you kick puppies?” She looks more like her mother than her father, though he can see both in them. She is humming with energy, the product of True Love. She would have made an excellent Savior, if things had been different. If Regina hadn’t been so foolish and weak.

“My crimes are many, princess, but kicking puppies has never been among them. I even had a sheepdog or two, in my day.” He’d watched his son play with them, running through fields with the dog and sheep. He hadn’t been able to run, then. He couldn’t now, with the few feet of space allotted to him. Almost eight years in a cage.

He’s too tired to bother with escape.

“Mama says it’s bad to throw rocks at people. She didn’t yell at me about George, though. ‘Cause the dog.” Her eyes sparkle, the greens and blues of her iris never seeming to stay still. it’s the first color he’s been aware of in years.

“A knight in training already, are we little one?” He sees, for a moment, another little blond girl, wearing strange clothing and clutching a knit blanket to her chest as she rides in a cart without horses. She is alone, that princess that never will be.

“I’m not little. I’m seven. Papa says when I’m nine I can have a real sword.” Her little chest puffs out, eager to prove herself. Bae would have picked up a sword as well, if he hadn’t acted as he had done. He would have died on a battlefield.

He’s not sure if that would be better or worse.

“Will you slay the dragon then, princess?” Even in this world, saviors are needed. After all, there’s always monsters like him.

“I have a name.” Brave soul that she is, she takes a step forward. “I know what your name is too. I heard people whispering.”

“They often do, about the things that live in darkness.” His fingers wrap around the bars as he leans his head out. He knows all the places wide enough to fit, just as he knows all the places in the ceiling to hold onto. “Princess Emma.”

“I’m not gonna slay dragons, when I get big. I’m not gonna ride a horse, either. The dragons will be my friends and I’ll ride on them instead.” She’s gone a heartbeat later, but when he looks down he finds that there’s a cookie in the dirt, close enough to reach. It’s the best thing he ever remembers eating.


End file.
